The present study was conducted to analyze the relationship between the changes in the local distribution of general medical clinics and gaps in the access to home-based medical care from 1995 to 2012. The results revealed the following 4 important findings. （1） Access to medical care at medical clinics has been clearly improving over the past 18 years. （2） As for home-based medical care, a significant gap in access was observed, especially in access to home care supporting clinics. （3） The distribution of home care supporting clinics tended to be denser in Western Japan than in Eastern Japan, with a 5-fold difference between the two regions. （4） The locally uneven distribution of home care supporting clinics tended to be higher in areas with a higher density of medical institutions due to the formation of industrial clusters in the area. （5） Higher fees for medical services provided by home care supporting clinics may promote locally uneven distribution. Therefore, the results suggested the necessity of establishing a comprehensive support system for home-based medical care according to the actual situation in each area, in addition to a national project for developing a uniform system throughout the country for the distribution of home care supporting clinics.

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This study is a qualitative study to demonstrate the issues of work–life balance （WLB） faced by female doctors, whose numbers have been significantly increasing in recent years, and their assistance needs. For the methodology, a semi-structured interview was conducted with 18 female doctors in Japanese, and qualitative analysis based on the modified grounded theory approach was conducted on the text data obtained. Clarification of the issues and assistance needs were derived by verifying the results’ consistency with knowledge obtained from preceding research. As a result, 4 categories and 12 sub-concepts were generated from an issue analysis of the current situation regarding female doctors’ WLB, whereby 4 categories and 14 sub-concepts were generated from an analysis of female doctors’ WLB assistance needs. This analysis identified the implementation of awareness campaigns for changing the mentality of gender role division, fulfilment of child-rearing support for ill or early-elementary children, and remedying night and extended shifts as issues and assistance needs.

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